


the sun came up (and i can't believe you're over me)

by gnx (LiesArePartiallyTrue)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, M/M, Moving On, Post-Break Up, Unrequited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 09:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11333391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiesArePartiallyTrue/pseuds/gnx
Summary: In which Percy is kind of a dick, but so is Octavian and Jason probably has a type. (Or, that, only a hell of a lot angstier.)





	the sun came up (and i can't believe you're over me)

So maybe this wasn't the best idea, Percy thinks, as he attempts to hide behind his beer.

 

He's not probably not very good at it, though, because if Leo's still staring at him from across the table, that also means he can still see him. 

 

It's not like Percy's afraid of Leo, it's just that Leo's currently in a more favorable position than him. He's got leverage, and it's highly likely he'll take advantage of it. 

 

Like, okay, so Percy knew there was going to be tension tonight, sue him for at least having hoped people would try to be on their best behavior. For old times' sake, if not for anything else.

 

Calypso's elbowing Leo in the stomach now. Percy assumes it's to get him to stop being so unapologetic, and while he appreciates the effort, he thinks it'll only draw attention to the way Leo glaring makes him squirm in his seat.

 

He was hoping to fit in, and so far it's worked pretty questionably. He’s attempted to socialize with some of the people he hasn't talked to for over a year, and that could have probably gone better, generally speaking.

 

Like when he tried to greet Reyna and her smile was so forced he immediately knew not to waste any more time between standing there frozen and running away with his metaphorical tail between his legs.

 

And when he waved at Thalia across the room - she’d looked at him with what he’d come to recognize as her I-will-murder-you-in-your-sleep glare over the years, and she hadn’t waved back. Right about then Percy’d started wishing Annabeth wasn’t on that student exchange in Rome.

 

It wasn't all bad, because Frank hugged him so hard he could swear he heard a rib crack, and Piper swung her arm over his shoulders like he was family.

 

So it's okay, things are handling themselves fine, but-

 

But so far, no one has said anything about the huge elephant in the room. Percy's not sure if he should be relieved or offended that they won't talk to him about it to his face, but he's still hoping they don't in the end. 

 

After all, he didn't come here to make a scene, not when this is probably Percy's only chance to talk to Jason again. A bit over a year late, sure, but he's finally going to own up to it, and he doesn't want to risk ruining everything because of somebody else's nerves.

 

So he shifts in his seat, with his mind made up and his stomach tied in knots, and sets to ignore Leo. 

 

He makes conversation with Dakota, who's too wasted to talk to anyone but himself. It sounds a little something like:

 

“I could probably drink one more, huh?”

 

“No, I'm pretty sure you couldn't, bro.” 

 

Whatever, it helps pass the time.

 

When it happens, Percy's too busy staring at his lap, so he feels it more than he sees it at first - because of the electricity in the air as people shift and start getting up - and he instantly knows who it is because it's always been one person who could catch eyes like that.

 

Percy tries to smooth himself down, make himself presentable. Up to now, he's felt comfortable in his long sleeve t-shirt, but now he finds himself picking on the threads in one of the rips in his jeans.

 

He lifts his eyes up once Jason has properly entered the salon. Jason spots him and nods, smiling hesitantly. Percy immediately grins at him. He's both changed and stayed so much the same that Percy almost does a double take; tries to remember why they broke up in the first place. 

 

He has the same blond hair and those striking blue eyes that always seem to be picking Percy apart from the inside; but now, there's glasses perched on top of his nose and a lightning tattoo covering his right arm, ink slithering from above his elbow to over his shoulder blade and under the fabric of a Superman tank top. He's also grown a couple of inches, if Frank's height as he swings an arm around him is anything to go by.

 

There's also a brand new accessory hanging off of Jason's arm. Percy's heart skips a beat. 

 

The guy's skinny, tastefully dressed in a gray cardigan and looking as if he's bored to death. He's also very, very blond, and funny that, Percy could've sworn Jason's type were dark-heads.

 

Jason whispers something in the guy's ear, detaches their arms and heads for the mini-bar in the corner. Blondie immediately sits down, still pouting.

 

Percy gets up and goes to Piper. She's one of the only people who was supportive of him, even after he broke Jason's heart. She'd always been the type of person to follow her gut, so even if she wasn't happy with how Percy handled things, she could understand.

 

He leans over where she's sitting, propping an elbow on the table, and grins at her.

 

“Hey,” he says. “Who's the boy toy?”

 

Piper looks like she's trying not to laugh. “Who, blond and sour over there? That's Jason's new beau, Octavian.”

 

“Octavian?” Well Percy is definitely laughing, if Piper isn't going to. “What kind of a name is that? Jason sure has lowered his standards.”

 

“Well, Perseus,” Piper teases. She leans in and whispers conspiratorially, “I don't like him either. He's kind of a dick.”

 

Percy laughs hard and throws his head back – he's just glad he's not the only one who feels repulsion at the thought that this guy - Octavian - could be what Jason wants. That Percy, however shitty a boyfriend, could be replaced with someone like that.

 

“How did they even meet?” he asks.

 

“Apparently, him and Jason lived at the same foster home for a while.”

 

Jason never talked much about that part of his life, but he'd told Percy enough. “The one where he met Reyna? Lupa's, right?” 

 

“Yep, same one,” Piper nods. “It turns out Reyna was still friends with Octavian, so they kinda met again through her.” She shrugs. “Guess they hit it off. They've been together for about a year, now.”

 

Percy swallows that with as much dignity as he can muster.

 

Which isn't that much, actually, considering all he's been doing for the last year narrows down to moping around. 

 

He plops down next to Piper and opens a beer. “Couldn't Hazel have mentioned that?”

 

“What, you thought he wouldn't have moved on?” Piper puts a hand on his shoulder, tone suddenly serious. There's no malice in her voice, but a warning edge is there nonetheless. 

 

“Sure counted on it, yeah.”

 

“Aww, Percy, c'mon. You know what kind of guy he is. He deserves something stable.” She's right, of course she is.

 

“I just-- I guess I wanted him to have that with me, you know?”

 

Piper sighs, pats his arm. “I think you liked it too much, Percy.”

 

“Liked what?”

 

“Fighting with him. Being competitive.”

 

Percy doesn't know what to say to that, because it's probably true. The kind of passionate Jason was when he was angry had felt empowering, it'd been easy to fall into a habit - riling him up again and again and again.

 

Maybe Jason hadn't been looking for that. 

 

“Yeah.” He takes a swing from his beer and looks away from Piper. “I don't think I had myself figured out back then, Pipes.”

 

“Yeah? So you got yourself figured out now?” 

 

“Maybe, yeah.”

 

“Good for you, then,” she says, takes the beer from him and pushes him off the chair. “Go mingle.”

 

Percy stares at her in disbelief. She just points to the mini-bar, where Jason's talking to Frank and Leo animatedly. Before Percy can protest, Piper turns her back on him and pretends to shout over at Drew to start a conversation.

 

Percy looks around in search of something else to occupy himself with, just so he can delay the inevitable, but as it is, everyone who doesn’t hate his guts seems busy elsewhere, so Percy just kind of hangs there awkwardly for a second before he makes his mind up, wipes his hands on his jeans and tugs at his hair for good measure before he heads for the mini-bar.

 

But as he’s crossing the room, he catches Leo’s eyes over Jason’s shoulder and he falters. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea. Maybe he miscalculated, gods know it wouldn’t be the first time. Maybe there’s really nothing him and Jason could say to each other anymore, nothing that could get them to where they were before.

 

Before there was an Octavian in Jason’s life.

 

Percy curses under his breath and changes course. Before he realizes, he’s crossed the floor to the side door, passed through the hall and the kitchen entrance, and then he’s out on Frank and Hazel’s balcony.

 

It’s mercifully empty and Percy can clear his mind a bit in the cold air. He suddenly really needs a smoke, so he brings out one of Luke’s stray cigarettes he has left in his back pocket from whatever questionable, dingy party Luke dragged him over the weekend. 

 

(Luke is his roommate and he’s a dick and Annabeth doesn’t trust him, but Annabeth isn’t around, and neither are any other people who care about Percy’s stupid choices anymore.)

 

He fumbles a bit with his spare lighter before he can light the cigarette and take a long drag. He curses at himself as he exhales into the night sky.

 

Stupid, stupid.

 

Why did he come here anyway? How could he even believe no one else would’ve moved on? Least of all Jason?

 

How could screw himself over so badly?

 

He doesn’t hear anyone come up behind him, but suddenly there’s a steady palm on his shoulder, squeezing gently once and then letting go. 

 

“Sorry,” Jason says as he comes around to join him. “Didn’t mean to startle you.” 

 

“You didn’t,” Percy breathes, even as his heart is jumping at the sight of Jason, at the smell of him, at his proximity. He brings the cigarette to his mouth again.

 

“And anyway,” he looks away as he exhales smoke and tries hard, desperately, to get his words out, “I think it’s me who has some apologizing to do.”

 

Jason blinks, then he smiles a small, sardonic smile that twists his features in a way Percy really, really doesn’t like. He remembers Jason’s blinding grins, sunny and goofy and showing off the scar on the side of his lip. He remembers being the cause of them.

 

“I don’t think we need to be going back to that, Percy,” he says, but to Percy it sounds deafeningly like “You had your chance”, and he can’t think of how to reply when everything he wants, everything, is just to go back to that.

 

That, before the broken glasses, the screaming themselves hoarse and saying things they didn't mean. Before the rift between them that Percy just can’t seem to mend.

 

He stays silent for a while, pretending not to be staring at the lines of Jason’s profile, struggling with everything he wants to say. In the end, he settles on, “Are you happy?” He doesn’t add “with him”, but he thinks Jason understands, especially when he chuckles softly in a way that sounds far, far-away.

 

“Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

 

Percy swallows thickly. “Okay.”

 

“Okay,” Jason repeats, then he turns around with a small shake of his head. “Hey. Don’t be a stranger, yeah?” he says.

 

Percy nods and wants to scream as he looks at Jason’s back, heading inside. He waits until he can’t hear the fall of footsteps anymore, and all he allows himself is a shaky exhale in the hand he drags across his face. He stubs his cigarette out on the wall.

 

He debates calling Annabeth in Rome to cry on the phone to her, and he thinks of Luke’s stash of vodka back in the apartment, and he stays out who knows how long until his heart feels a bit less like it’s going to drop out of his chest.

 

He makes his way slowly back in, meaning to say his goodbyes and go home, where he can pretend his emotions don’t exist again. But the kitchen door is open when he passes through the hall, and he can see Jason trading soft kisses with his Octavian, perched on a counter top, his hand in Jason’s glorious, cropped hair.

 

He stops for a bit, staggering with the weight of the world, but then he stalks past the door resolutely. There’s nothing here for him anymore, which is what he keeps telling himself as he makes his excuses to Hazel, but not before he grabs one last beer, and walks out into the night, door crashing behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> so this was an idea that's been plaguing me for a huge while that i posted a scrap of  on tumblr  some time ago; glad to finally upload!!


End file.
